Endangered Species Awareness Post

I think I'll plan to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, just because that works. Probably late each night.

Yay.

Also, if I disappear from the face of the planet for a few days this week, you'll know that I've been brutally murdered by exams. I'm full of terror and anxiety right now, because I have an exam, and a paper I have no idea where to start on, both due on the twenty fifth.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

On to the actual post.

So, you know how some people share pictures on Facebook, or write weepy posts about endangered animals? (Not to be offensive. But I'm not really an animal person. I appreciate the sadness of endangerment, but I'm sorry, I don't get emotionally involved.)

Well, I think I'm going to write an awareness/appreciation post for the beautiful endangered species of Platonic Relationships in Fiction.

I have always loved platonic relationships in stories. They mean so, so much to me. They're the interactions that warm my heart, more often than romance. And it's totally okay if you're different. I just wanted to point out the fact that, whether you like them or not, these relationships are dying. They're all dropping like flower petals in the heat. And I think something should be done about that.

For example:

Sherlock and John [I'm talking BBC] (Critically endangered) ~ In the novel "1984", George Orwell portrays a society where language is being cut down, words being deleted from the English vocabulary, so that certain thoughts are inexpressible. That's what I feel like is happening to me, now. During Sherlock's "The Great Game", I practically jumped around with happiness when Sherlock got scared and slightly protective over John, stuttering around to ask him if he was alright. Also, when the explosive-draped John grabbed Moriarty, willing to sacrifice his life to let Sherlock get away safely, I couldn't help but love it.

I am unable to express my feelings, when I speak about this. I find it amazing and wonderful that two people would care like that for each other. That their friendship could break the ice that Sherlock's soul seems covered in, that it would even, in John's case, melt the instincts of self-preservation, allowing selflessness through.

But, look, any average person on the internet - and here comes the controversy, the touchy subject matter - would think, from that sentence above, that I ship JohnLock. NO! No, no, no, no, no!

Well, why do you have feelings like that, then, the internet asks. Surely, if any two people care about each other past simple friendship, they must be sexually interested in one another.

And that's where you're so wrong. Read Lord of the Rings, for goodness sakes. They say things that are so much more shippy, but, since Tolkien actually understood that people can be gloriously deep friends without ever, ever having a romantic thought, they're not meant to be taken that way.

Other friendships that have made me smile over the years include

Calvin and Hobbes

Phineas and Ferb

Frodo and Sam [Lord of the Rings, obviously]

Hiccup and Toothess [How to Train Your Dragon]

Harry Potter and Hermione Granger

and, my favourite right now: The DoctorDonna [Doctor Who]

A lot of them have fans that ship them romantically. Fortunately, I don't think all of them do. But with almost anything, there comes a point where the present day's mind goes haywire. People can't be devoted friends anymore. They have to be more. And, by being 'more', I believe they become so, so much less.

Think about the word 'love', for a second. Used virtually anywhere outside of family, what do you think of? A couple holding hands or kissing under a cherry tree in the full moon? Something along those lines? Yeah, it's almost impossible to use the word 'love' without someone at least doing a double-take, and wondering if it was meant romantically.

Our universe is built on a platonic relationship. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For God so loved the world.

I'm scared we're losing sight of that, outside of God and family.

Now, the situation isn't apocalyptic. There are so many friendships still intact. But they can't be strong as steel, anymore, or people start getting the wrong idea. Because that's how we're wired now. And I wish it wasn't that way.